Rodent health reports from outside institutions requesting to ship mice to the VKDC must be no older than four months old AND contain health history (serology, parasitology, and other relevant data) for the past 12 months for the building where the animals are housed.

Below is a list of Excluded Agents. Negative tests for these agents are required for approval and entry into the Vanderbilt Mouse Quarantine.

Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV) – Mouse Coronavirus

Mouse Parvovirus (MPV)

Minute Virus of Mice (MVM) = Murine Minute Virus (MMV)

Mouse Adenovirus (MAV or (MAdV)

Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV)

Sendai Virus (SV or SEND)

Pneumonia Virus of Mice (PVM)

Epizootic Diarrhea of Infant Mice (EDIM) – Rotavirus

Theiler’s Mouse Encephalomyelitis Virus (TMEV, MEV or GD-7 = GD VII)

Mouse Pox (Ectromelia Virus = Ectro)

Reovirus (Reo or Reo 3)

Mycoplasma pulmonis (MPUL)

Ednoparasites or internal parasites (Syphacia and Aspecularis)

Ectoparasites or external parasites (Fur mites)

Quarantine Testing

Below is an agreed-upon list of tests to be performed while the mice are in quarantine. As standard procedure, testing of incoming animals will include the storage of an aliquot of serum for retesting at a different lab (as directed by the veterinary staff) in the cases of any positive test results. On each shipment of mice, we collect fresh fecal pellets to submit to an outside laboratory for PCR analysis of Helicobacter species. The DAC will set direct contact sentinels (female CD-1 age 4-5 weeks) in the cages with the quarantined mice. The sentinels are left in each animal’s cage from that shipment for 48 hours. Afterwards, the sentinel mice are placed in a home cage for an additional 3-4 weeks. During this time the sentinel animals will continue to receive soiled bedding from the shipment of animals. This is done at each cage change (twice a week). In addition, sentinel animals will receive “dirty” water bottles from animals in the shipment. At the end of the quarantine period, the sentinel animals are euthanized via CO2 inhalation. Blood is drawn for serology, parasitology of the pelage and perianal hair is performed in addition to a fecal flotation. Serum is submitted to an outside laboratory for testing for the following pathogens via the Multiplexed Fluorometeric Immunoassay. Positive tests are confirmed via IFA. Animals testing positive will not be released from quarantine. At this time arrangements will be discussed between the Vanderbilt researcher and a member of the DAC veterinary staff.

For Domestic Shipments:

Mouse Parvovirus (MPV-1, MPV-2, MVM and NS-1)

Sendai Virus

Pneumonia Virus of Mice (PVM)

Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV)

Mouse Norovirus (MNV)

Theiler’s Mouse Encephalitis Virus (TMEV, MEV, GD-7 or GD-VII)

Reovirus (Reo or Reo 3)

Mycoplasma pulmonis (MPUL)

Enzootic Diarrhea of Infant Mice (EDIM)

Lymphocytic Choriomenigitis Virus (LCMV)

Mouse Adenovirus (MAD)

Mouse Pox (Ectromelia virus = ECTRO)

K virus

Polyoma virus (POLY)

For International Shipments:

Mouse Parvovirus (MPV-1, MPV-2, MVM and NS-1)

Sendai Virus

Pneumonia Virus of Mice (PVM)

Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV)

Mouse Norovirus (MNV)

Theiler’s Mouse Encephalitis Virus (TMEV, MEV, GD-7 or GD-VII)

Reovirus (Reo or Reo 3)

Mycoplasma pulmonis (MPUL)

Enzootic Diarrhea of Infant Mice (EDIM)

Lymphocytic Choriomenigitis Virus (LCMV)

Mouse Adenovirus (MAD)

Mouse Pox (Ectromelia virus = ECTRO)

K virus

Polyoma virus (POLY)

Mouse T-Lymphocyte Virus (MTLV)

Mouse Cytomegalovirus (MCMV)

Hantavirus (HTN)

Encephalitozoon cuniculi (ECUN)

Cilia Associated Bacillus (CARB)

Additional testing for all Quarantine Shipments (Domestic and International)
Subgross examination of the pelt:

Fur mites

Subgross examination of the cecal and colon contents:

Pinworms

Fecal flotation for the examination of endoparasites and ova

Pinworms

Tapeworms

Length of quarantine time for animals:

Typically quarantine takes a minimum of 4-6 weeks depending on the number of animals in each shipment. It is important to not that animals that arrive into quarantine are treated for ecto and endoparasites. Mice are placed on Fenbendazole food and Atguard ® Granules are placed in the cage. Animals are housed in static microisolators on Bed O’Cob bedding. After animals are released from the general quarantine a one-week minimum period is appropriate for animals to recover from the stress of traveling and new environment prior to phenotyping. Vanderbilt typically does not allow researchers access to their animals during the quarantine period.